The vendor-client relationship can be difficult and tumultuous, especially if the client does not understand the design process. It can be even more difficult and frustrating if they outright refuse to understand it or refuse to work in a linear fashion to complete projects.
I recently had the unfortunate duty to terminate a client relationship based on that problem. When I began the project it seemed like a great opportunity to work with this client. However, my great intentions were met with contention, waffling and an insatiable desire for change. There were multiple deviations from the originally agreed upon terms: from deadlines to CMS systems to back-end functionality. The continued delays were caused by a lack of commitment by my client to a design that was built, from scratch, per their specifications. It was not the work of Unicorn Press they were unhappy with, but rather the translations of their requests and the manifestations of the designs they requested. Now after 137 emails and 80+ hours worth of work, and one attempt to salvage the working relationship, I have had no choice but to terminate this project and forfeit my losses.
Here are a few things I have learned from horror stories and experiences like these:
Design your estimates and agreements from a “worse case” scenario perspective
Be open and honest every step of the way
Stay in regular communication with the client
Be strict in documenting all emails, phone calls, and hours worked
Be willing to walk away
Here is a smart video tidbit of what I’ve been experiencing with this client. If it weren’t so true it’d actually be funny.
They been expanding the meaning of their brands by positioning themselves within the lifestyles of their consumers. Instead of just selling singular products, they provide resources and products that make a difference in the daily lives of their customers. Their family of brands are stewards of comfortable living and aim to help people all around the world achieve that through their various product lines.
They have expanded the meaning of their brands and have in turn achieved massive growth in the global economy: their brands are recognized worldwide and illicit a sense of comfort and home. By expanding their brands in such a holistic fashion, they have essentially built themselves into the lifestyles of their customers. And, by doing that, they necessarily become inextricable with their customers’ daily lives, which builds a sense of indispensability. By targeting lifestyles and not specific demographics per se, they are able to build a following that is monumental, recurring, and loyal.
Their company employs a number of strategies that help them expand the meaning of their brands. They are involved in the global community (via sponsorships, donations and activism); they are committed to outreach in education, animal rights, food and nutrition…and even the natural disaster in Haiti. By showing active involvement, they demonstrate that they do indeed care about their customers and consumers well beyond the point of purchase. They believe that by improving the human condition, they are helping the world, and that is evident by the work they do. There are obvious benefits of targeting a new consumer segment this way: they not only increase market share but increase their customer-based brand equity in doing so.
Some of the ways in which this company gains understanding of consumers’ needs and to create better products, as well as building long-term relationships with customers include:
-Community involvement (brand building in PR and marketing outreach for worldwide causes and disasters)
-Focus groups and highly targeted and personal research (market research, demographic research, working with individual families to track their daily lives)
-Permission marketing/advertising (if you know your customer intimately, you will be able to customize marketing tools, communications and outreach so that the company-consumer connection is interesting, compelling, fun, and informative…and that customers will ask for more.)
-Holistic marketing: looking at the brand from the user’s perspective (as in the case with one of their products and (BIG HINT) “looking at the world through a baby’s eyes”)
-Better measurement: Although perfect metrics are difficult to construct, they learning to use their market research data to the benefit of the company and consumer as much as possible (tracking barcode scans, surveys, etc)
-Experimentation (Try new products, brand extensions and upgrades…listen to market feedback and take it seriously, as in the case of Tampax)
-PR/Media (product placement, mobile advertising)
If you guessed P&G, you were right!
How well does your brand build long term customer relationships and follow market trends?
Remember: Your brand may not have the same budget as P&G to extend your reach and market penetration in the same fashion…but you can definitely implement some of these strategies at little to no cost!
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